Mohamed Sifaoui - an Algerian journalist, writer and director living in exile in France - was violently attacked by Islamists in Paris on Friday, June 13th 2008. Why? For his tireless and courageous struggle against fundamentalisms and his defence of secularism. Since 2003 he has benefited from police protection, but since January 2008 it has been withdrawn.

The following is an update provided by BAOBAB - For Women's Human Rights, a women's rights organization based in Nigeria. This is a brief report on the Public Hearing held in July 2008 regarding a proposed bill which, if made into law, would regulate styles of clothing on the grounds this would curb sexual intimidation and other sexual offences. The women who conducted research, presented their findings and demands, spoke out at the public hearing and aired their concerns with the world are to be commended for their actions and commitment to fighting discriminatory laws.

The polygamous communities of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) - a branch of Mormonism - have openly practiced forced and underage marriages, incest, and abuse for decades. Under the clause of 'religious freedoms', however, this practice has been permitted to continue in the Canadian province of British Columbia and lengthy court cases have been further delayed by repeated appointments of special investigators.

Six leaders of a group managing the Baha'i community's religious and administrative affairs in Iran were arrested at their homes by officers from the Ministry of Intelligence on 14 May 2008, and are now detained in Evin Prison in Tehran. A seventh person, acting secretary for the group, Mahvash Sabet, has been in detention since 5 March. The Baha'i community has long been persecuted by the Iranian government, especilly since the Iranian Revolution.

The following is an update on the situation in the Kanchanpur district of Nepal where women human rights defender Laxmi Bohara was murdered by her husband and mother-in-law. Further women activists are now being threatened and attacked.

"In the latest killing, or at least the latest to come to public attention, Kurdistan Aziz was 16 years old when she escaped her family with a man she knew they would not accept, and courageously following the ancient tradition of 'radu kauten' they eloped together to Arbil, the capital city of Iraqi Kurdistan. They planned to start a life together. But her father had other ideas for her; not of love, happiness or choice but that she must die for this rebellion against the patriarchal order.

On June 12th, the occasion of the National Day of Solidarity of Iranian Women, nine women’s rights activists were arrested outside of the Rahe Abrisham Gallery just prior to a small, peaceful assembly planned to commemorate the day.